The concept of uncertainty is one I have grappled with in various contexts this year. Whether it's not knowing what you're going to do after college or figuring out daily plans, there is power in not knowing what comes next and building a life for yourself that is based on genuine choices. In a letter to his son, John Keats coined the concept of "negative capability," which is defined as the longer one can go in uncertain times, the better poet you become. This idea can be extended to science, as discussed in the video with Stuart Firestein. Sharing what scientists do not know and are still uncertain about is a productive source of inspiration and excitement for the future, even if we have no idea what it looks like, as scientists become "better poets," or in this case better scientists, in learning from what we do not know. This simple idea was one of the most surprising of the video - that Firestein created a whole course around teaching what we don't know rather than what we do.
If I had conducted the interview, I would ask Firestein about his view on questions that do not get answered in one's lifetime, and the feeling of uncertainty that yields no tangible result.
I love the idea of scientists becoming better poets!